Sentinel (comics) explained

The Sentinels are a group of mutant-hunting robots appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are typically depicted as antagonists to the X-Men.

The Sentinels played a large role in several X-Men animated series, and have been featured in several X-Men video games. The Sentinels are featured prominently in the 2014 film , and made brief appearances in the 2006 film and the 2016 film . In 2009, The Sentinels were ranked in IGN as the 38th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.^[2]

Publication history

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they first appeared in The X-Men #14 (Nov. 1965).^[3]

Sentinels are programmed to locate mutants and capture or kill them. Though several types of Sentinels have been introduced, the typical Sentinel is three stories tall, is capable of flight, projecting energy blasts, and detecting mutants.^[4]

Characteristics

Sentinels are designed to hunt mutants. While many are capable of tactical thought, only a handful are self-aware.

Sentinels are technologically advanced, and have exhibited a wide variety of abilities. They are armed (primarily with energy weapons and restraining devices), capable of flight, and can detect mutants at long range. They possess vast physical strength, and their bodies are highly resistant to damage. Some are able to alter their physical forms or re-assemble and reactivate themselves after they have been destroyed.

Some Sentinel variants have the ability to learn from their experiences, developing their defenses during an engagement. Several groups of Sentinels have been created or led by a single massive Sentinel called Master Mold. Some Sentinels are also equipped with an inconspicuous logic loop in case they should go rogue to convince them that they are mutants.

Because of their power, sophistication, and high mass production, Sentinels are sold on the black market.^[5] Entities obtain them—often in poor condition—for their own purposes (not necessarily mutant-related).^{[6] [7]}

Types of Sentinels

• Mark I and Master Mold - Created by Bolivar Trask. First appeared in X-Men #14. Trask sacrificed himself to destroy the Master Mold.
• Mark II - Created by Larry Trask. This model was capable of adapting to and counteracting superpowers almost instantly. First appeared in X-Men #57.
  • No.2 - The robotic leader of Larry Trask's Sentinels, later "mutated" with the capability of creating space warps.^[8]
• Composite - Created by merging the remaining portions of five Sentinels destroyed by the X-Men and came under control of Ashley Martin. It rebelled against her and was subsequently destroyed.
• Mark III - Created by Steven Lang and Project: Armageddon, secretly funded by Edward Buckman and the Council of the Chosen. Based on incomplete notes of Trask and inferior to Mark II. First appeared in X-Men #98.
  • X-Sentinels - Android duplicates of the original X-Men who were created by Steven Lang. First appeared in X-Men #99.
• Mark IV - Created by Sebastian Shaw. First appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #151.
• Mark V - Created by Shaw for U.S. government's Project Wideawake. First appeared in The New Mutants #2.
• Mark VI - Created by Shaw Industries for Project Wideawake and used by Onslaught. Also incorporated parts of Project Nimrod.
• Mark VII - Created by Shaw Industries. They were experimental and remote controlled.
• Nimrod - A prototype Super Sentinel that arrived from the "Days of Future Past" timeline and was later reactivated by William Stryker.
  • Project Nimrod - Created by an offshoot of Project Wideawake and was in the experimental stage, Project Nimrod was actually a self-awareness program that Nimrod implanted before its demise into the base's military computer cybernet, the program served as a sleeper virus that awaited the opportunity to access a Sentinel development program so it could use it to re-create Nimrod itself. Cancelled after X-Force interfered.
• Prime Sentinels - Bastion's humanoid Sentinels. They were at first disabled humans infected with Nano-Sentinel technology at Prospero Clinic under the belief that they were being equipped with cybernetic nanotech implants to replace their lost limbs. Unbeknownst to many of them, they became sleeper agents for . Upon activation by a mutant attack or near the presence of one, they would be transformed into armored cyborg beings with powerful weapons systems.
  • Omega Prime Sentinels - The second generation of Prime Sentinels. Often simply called Omega Sentinels, their nanotechnology is more advanced than their brethren. Omega Sentinels have an eight-step cycle of transformation they undergo before becoming fully mechanical: Infection, Nesting, Replication, Dormancy, Activation, Union, Adaptation, and finally Omega.^[9] Karima Shapandar is an Omega Prime Sentinel.
• Wild Sentinels - Built in secret by Master Mold in Ecuador, activated and used by Cassandra Nova for the genocide of Genosha.
• Mark VIII / Sentinel Squad O*N*E - Sentinels designed by Stark Enterprises which, unlike other Sentinels, requires a human pilot.
  • T.O. Sentinels - An intended upgrade to the Squad O*N*E Sentinels conceived by director Robert Callahan, who sought to use a techno-organic substance to increase the effectiveness of the Sentinel program.^[10] Callahan later experimented with material from Warlock, a techno-organic alien, to augment the Sentinel Squad Armor unit.^{[11] [12]}
• Bio-Sentinels - Human mutant corpse infected by a technological virus created by Kaga.^[13] They come with the innate capacity of weaponizing bio-technological apparati such as Brood-designed missiles as a means of offense.^[14]
• Stark Sentinels MK I - The Stark Sentinels debuted during the AXIS storyline. Under the influence of the Red Skull, Tony Stark created a model of adamantium-constructed Sentinels outfitted with Pym Particle technology with databases withholding knowledge of different super heroes he acquired after the events of Civil War.^[15]
• Mother Mold - A self-aware version of Master Mold created by Orchis and designed to create "Master Molds" which in turn create Sentinels. Mother Mold will lead directly to the creation of Nimrod, the ultimate nanotechnological Sentinel form.^[16]
  • Nimrod - Created in the modern era solely from contemporary technology and independent of its time-travelling counterparts by Dr. Alia Gregor on Orchis's Mother Mold.
• X-Sentinels - Orchis' new era of Sentinel, which is a modern Sentinel created by Mister Sinister's clone Doctor Stasis. He pulled this off by building over his gene-spliced animal/human Chimeras and used the many corpses of Wolverine to perfect a process and converting them into Sentinel units, combining Wolverine's adamantium skeleton and claws with the latest Sentinel casing and systems prove to be a lethal combination.^[17]
  • Sentinel Zero - The first X-Sentinel to come online and built over the frame of Wolverine's adamantium skeleton. Firestar incinerated Sentinel Zero's Sentinel parts, leaving a smoking Wolverine skeleton.
• Stark Sentinel MK II - A new version of Stark Sentinel secretly created by anti-mutant industrialist Feilong and based on technology of Iron Man's armor.^[18]
• Fireteam - A group of cyborg Sentinels created by Larry Trask using nanites harvested from Juston Seyfert. The Fireteam are tasked with tracking down and capturing dangerous mutants.^{[19] [20]}
  • Lockstep (Bradley Hansen)
  • Voivod (Dragos Teodorescu)
  • Sawtooth (Camila Rivera)
  • Shellback (Michael Babineaux)
  • Drumfire (Patricia Pham)
• Bloodhounds - The Bloodhounds are captured wolves who were turned into Sentinel cyborgs to hunt mutants for the Graymalkin Prison.^{[21] [22]}

Related mutant-hunting creations

• Tri-Sentinel - A giant-sized, six-armed, three-faced combination of three Sentinels created by Loki and acquired by the Life Foundation.
• Soviet Sentinels - Created by the Soviet Union and later purchased by Cuban government officials.^[23]
• Super-Sentinels - Using Nano-Sentinel technology, Weapon Plus created artificially evolved superhumans at The World. Three of the creations were chosen to form the mutant-hunting Super-Sentinels: Huntsman, Fantomex and Ultimaton, who were intended to be presented to the public as superheroes to make the extermination of mutantkind look "like a Saturday morning cartoon".
• Colcord's Sentinels - Several Boxbots were created by Madison Jeffries (aka Box) to serve the Weapon X Program, run by Malcolm Colcord. In one variation of the Days of Future Past timeline seen in the Weapon X: Days of Future Now limited series, one of the Boxbots evolves into a new Master Mold and a new form of Sentinels.
• Hardaway - A cyborg created at Camp Hayden, killed by the Mutant Liberation Front, who called himself a Bio-Sentinel.
• X-51 (Machine Man) - Captured by Bastion and "infected" with Prime Sentinel nano-bots which reconfigured and reconstructed his systems thereby giving him similar capabilities to Nimrod,^{[24] [25]} such as adapting to almost any situation and programming that at times forced him to attack mutants.^[26]
• Juston Seyfert's Sentinel: A rebuilt Sentinel (likely a Mark V or Mark VI) that was reprogrammed to obey Juston Seyfert. Initially, Juston controlled the Sentinel by riding on its shoulder; he now has built a cockpit into it. Juston and his Sentinel are former members of Avengers Academy and are featured in Avengers Arena, where the Sentinel is destroyed and Juston apparently killed.^[27] Juston is later revealed to have been revived after his Sentinel infused his body with nanotechnology, transforming him into a Sentinel cyborg.
• Sentinaughts - One of the types of sentient robots who live in the free robot city of The Core,^[28] Sentinaughts are apparently based on the Sentinel design. They vary in size from roughly human to the large stature of traditional Sentinels.
• Nano-Sentinel - Microscopic Sentinel type of tech created by Cassandra Nova and implemented in various ways by other users.^[29] They attach themselves to the brains of humans and mutants alike.^[30]
  • An unknown form of human-made Sentinels were created by Simon Trask using a nanite-based Sentinel Tech virus. At Trask's command, the victims are transformed into Sentinels loyal to him.^[31]
• Adamantium Cyborgs - Near-fully mechanical mutant hunter killers refitted by Weapon X with the titular metal as an endoskeleton using sentinel based nanotech. Coming in numerous alphabetical categorical batches, these bionic weapons can shed their skin revealing a murderous automaton with the abilities of various X-Men heroes and villains integrated into them.^[32]
• Core/Central Command - A biotech Master Mold variant behind the design parameters of the new Prime Sentinels.^[33]
• Box Sentinels - Smaller and faster Sentinels based on the Box technology created by a joint venture between Department H and Orchis to track down and capture mutants in Canada.^[34]

In other media

Television

• A Sentinel appears in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "A Firestar Is Born" via a flashback.
• The Sentinels appear in , voiced by David Fox.^[35] Introduced in the first season, the Sentinel program was controlled by Bolivar Trask and Henry Peter Gyrich and was temporarily cancelled before being transferred to Genosha, with Master Mold constructed as the Sentinels' leader/mass-production unit. While the Sentinels are seemingly destroyed by Storm, a possible future depicts them as having taken over the world and successfully putting mutants on the verge of extinction. In the first season finale, Master Mold takes over the Sentinels from Trask and Gyrich's secret U.S. facility in an attempt to kidnap world leaders and replace their brains with computers to bring them under its control, resulting in Professor X and Magneto joining forces to thwart Master Mold. Afterwards, the Sentinels and Master Mold make sporadic minor appearances in the fourth season.
• The Sentinels appear in the episode "The Mutant Agenda" as a Danger Room simulation.
• The Sentinels appear in . These versions are more heavily armed than their comic book counterparts. In the episode "Day of Reckoning" Pt.1, Magento hijacks a prototype Sentinel to attack the X-Men and reveal mutant existence to the media. In "Uprising", S.H.I.E.L.D. uses three upgraded models against Apocalypse. Additionally, the series finale "Ascension" Pt. 2 features a vision of the future which includes a fleet of Sentinels led by Nimrod.
• A Sentinel appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Sausage Fest".
• The Sentinels appear in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Jim Ward.^[35] This version of the Sentinel program consists of Mark I Sentinels, Sentinel Prowlers, an unnamed futuristic variation from a Sentinel-dominated future, and Sentinel Hounds, all controlled by Master Mold. Additionally, the reprogrammed Sentinel Rover appears in a self-titled episode as an associate of a future incarnation of the X-Men.
• Alternate timeline variants of the Sentinels appear in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Days, Nights, and Weekends of Future Past! (Six Against Infinity Part 2)", voiced by Tom Kenny.^[35] These versions were created to defend Super Hero City in a possible future where the Scarlet Witch is a dictator.
• A Sentinel appears in Marvel Anime: X-Men as a Danger Room simulation.
• A Sentinel appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Game Over" as a part of Arcade's Madland.
• A Sentinel appears in .
• A variation of Sentinel Squad O*N*E appears in the Avengers Assemble four-part episode "Civil War". This version, established by Ultron, consists of a mech-sized battlesuit and unmanned green and yellow sentries.
• The Sentinels appear in The Gifted.^[36] These versions are small spider-like robots created by Trask Industries to withstand various hazardous environments and forms of attack as well as adapt quickly to damage taken. Additionally, a similarly named government agency called Sentinel Services appears throughout the series.
• The Sentinels appear in X-Men '97, voiced by Eric Bauza and Jennifer Hale.^{[37] [35] [38] [39]} This version of the Sentinel program consists of the regular robots, a three-headed version, and Bastion's Prime Sentinels.

Film

See main article: article and X-Men (film series).

• The Sentinels were originally meant to appear in X-Men (2000). In an early draft written by Andrew Kevin Walker and turned in during June 1994, Henry Gyrich and Bolivar Trask use three 8 feet (2.4 m) tall Sentinels to attack the X-Men.^[40] Following several rewrites and new scripts, the Sentinels were eventually dropped from the film.^[41]
• A Sentinel appears in (2006) as a Danger Room simulation.
• Two variations of the Sentinels appear in (2014).^{[42] [43]} The prototype Mark I Sentinels were designed by Legacy Effects with Digital Domain building digital models based on a full-scale practical model while the future Mark X variants, based on Nimrod Sentinels,^{[44] [45]} were computer graphics made by Moving Picture Company. In the film, the prototypes are said to be built using space-age polymers and are equipped with chest-mounted vent-like structures that grant flight capabilities as well as arm-mounted Gatling guns while the future Sentinels are smaller, sleeker, and built with adaptive mechanical scales, hands that can reform into blades, and emitters in their heads capable of firing energy beams. This version of the Sentinel program was originally created in the 1970s, with Bolivar Trask experimenting on mutants to accelerate his research, though he found little success in gaining support for his project. After Mystique assassinated Trask in 1973, the U.S. government approved the Sentinel program, captured Mystique, and experimented on the latter to give the Sentinels the ability to adapt to and utilize any mutant power. However, the Sentinels subsequently target humans due to their potential for having mutant descendants, culminating in a dystopian future where most of humanity and mutant-kind are nearly extinct by 2023. After Kitty Pryde uses her ability to project the minds of others into their past selves on Logan to rally Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr's younger selves and avert Trask's assassination, the pair eventually succeed, causing the U.S. government to realize that not all mutants are a threat to humanity and abandon the Sentinel program.
• The Sentinels make a cameo appearance in (2016) as Danger Room simulations.

Video games

• The Sentinels appear in X-Men (1992).
• The Sentinels appear in Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge.
• The Sentinels appear as bosses in via the Genosha stage.
• The Sentinels appear in .
• A non-standard 10' tall Sentinel appears as a playable character in X-Men: Children of the Atom.
• A non-standard 10' tall Sentinel appears as a secret assist character in .
• A non-standard 10' tall Sentinel appears as a playable character in .
• The Sentinels appear in .
• The Sentinels appear as background characters in .
• The Sentinels appear in , with a male and female Prime Sentinel available as playable characters.
• The Sentinels appear in X-Men Legends, voiced by Scott MacDonald.^[35] This version of the Sentinel program includes regular Sentinels, Sentinel Alpha, a Sentinel Controller, a Sentinel Weapons Platform, and a Sentinel Advanced.
• The Sentinels appear in .
• The Sentinels appear in , voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.^[35] This version of the Sentinel program includes a small flight-capable model and a walking behemoth.
• The Sentinels appear in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, with a Mark I model appearing as a boss.
• A non-standard 10' tall Sentinel appears as an unlockable playable character in and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, voiced again by Jim Ward. In its arcade mode ending, it uploads Master Mold's program into Galactus's warship with the intention of killing mutants and humanity via Galactus-inspired Sentinels.
• The Sentinels appear in X-Men Destiny.
• The Sentinels appear in . This version of the Sentinel program includes several Sentinel models named after the Titans. Additionally, the Brotherhood of Mutants employ M-Series Sentinels while the Hellfire Club hired the Crimson Dynamo to build Sentinels loyal to them.
• The Sentinels appear in Marvel Heroes.
• The Sentinels appear in Deadpool.
• The Sentinels appear in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Stephen Stanton.^{[35] [46]} Additionally, a Mini-Sentinel appears as an unlockable playable character.
• A Sentinel appears as a playable character in .
• The Sentinels appear as playable and non-playable characters in Marvel Contest of Champions.
• The Sentinels appear in , voiced again by Jim Ward.^{[35] [47] [48]}
• The Sentinels appear as a landmark in Fortnite Battle Royale.
• The Sentinels appears in Marvel Snap.
• A Sentiel is shown to be in Marvel's Wolverine.

Merchandise

• A Sentinel figure was released in Toy Biz's X-Men Classics line.
• A Sentinel "Build-A-Figure", based on the "Here Comes Tomorrow" incarnation, was released in wave ten of the Marvel Legends line.
• Two Sentinel figures was released in Hasbro's Marvel Universe line.
• Two Sentinel figures and a statue were released in the Marvel Minimates line, with the second being based on its appearance in .
• A Sentinel figure was released in Lego's "X-Men vs. the Sentinel" set.
• A twenty-six inch Sentinel figure was announced as part of Hasbro's HasLab crowdfunding releases.

Music

In 2020, Brooklyn rapper Magneto Dayo unveiled "The Sentinels", a project that gained viral traction on Instagram reels in 2024, amassing over 5 million plays.

External links

• • Sentinels at Marvel.com

Notes and References

1. Book: Misiroglu . Gina Renée . Eury . Michael . The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood . 2006 . Visible Ink Press . 9780780809772 . en.
2. Web site: The Top 100 Comic Book Villains. IGN. 4 November 2017. en.
3. Book: DeFalco . Tom . Sanderson . Peter . Brevoort . Tom . Teitelbaum . Michael . Wallace . Daniel . Darling . Andrew . Forbeck . Matt . Cowsill . Alan . Bray . Adam . The Marvel Encyclopedia . 2019 . DK Publishing . 978-1-4654-7890-0 . 318.
4. Book: Brevoort . Tom . DeFalco . Tom . Manning . Matthew K. . Sanderson . Peter . Wiacek . Win . Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History . 2017 . DK Publishing . 978-1465455505 . 110.
5. M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #2 (March 2021)
6. X-Men (vol. 3) #19-22 (December 2011 - February 2012)
7. Avengers: The Children's Crusade #9 (May 2012)
8. The Avengers #102-104 (August - October 1972)
9. House of X #3 (October 2019)
10. Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #9-10 (March - May 2005)
11. New Mutants: Dead Souls #6 (October 2018)
12. Uncanny X-Men (vol. 5) #19 (August 2019)
13. Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #31 (December 2009)
14. Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #32 (January 2010)
15. Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #1 (December 2014)
16. Powers of X #2 (October 2019)
17. X-Men (vol. 6) #22 (July 2023)
18. The Invincible Iron Man (vol. 5) #5 (June 2023)
19. Web site: Dodge . John . January 12, 2025 . Marvel Turns a Long-Lost Superhero Into the Source of the Next Mutant Tragedy . December 28, 2025 . CBR . en.
20. Web site: Jansons . Isaac . January 13, 2025 . X-Men Reinvents a Forgotten Hero with a Dark Sentinel Twist No One Saw Coming . December 28, 2025 . Screen Rant . en.
21. Sentinels #2 (January 2025)
22. Sentinels #4 (March 2025)
23. Mystique #3-6 (August - November 2003)
24. Cable and Machine Man Annual (May 1998)
25. Machine Man & Bastion Annual (June 1998)
26. X-51 #1-2 (September 1999)
27. Avengers Arena #12 (September 2013)
28. Secret Avengers #25 (June 2012)
29. New X-Men #123 (April 2002)
30. X-Men Red #5 (August 2018)
31. Uncanny X-Men #500 (September 2008)
32. Weapon X (vol. 3) #1 (June 2017)
33. Uncanny X-Men (vol. 4) #15 (January 2017)
34. Alpha Flight (vol. 5) #1 (October 2023)
35. Web site: Sentinel Voice (X-Men). behindthevoiceactors.com. December 19, 2019. . A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information..
36. Web site: Schwartz. Terri. Legion: X-Men Producer on How Professor X Fits In and Future TV Plans. IGN. 5 November 2017. 16 January 2017.
37. Web site: Romano . Nick . 'X-Men '97' exclusive look reveals legacy costumes, Theo James casting . February 15, 2024 . EW.com . en.
38. Web site: Prime Sentinels Voice (X-Men '97). behindthevoiceactors.com. December 18, 2024. . A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information..
39. Web site: Female Prime Sentinel Voice (X-Men '97). behindthevoiceactors.com. December 18, 2024. . A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information..
40. News: Andrew Kevin . Walker . Andrew Kevin Walker . X-Men First Draft . Daily Scripts . July 13, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190726144619/http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/x-men_walker3.html . July 26, 2019 . June 7, 1994 . live.
41. Web site: Kendall . Gene . 15 Rejected X-Men Movie Ideas That Almost Happened . . Valnet Inc. . July 26, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190726150301/https://www.cbr.com/x-men-movie-moments-that-almost-happened/ . July 26, 2019 . March 10, 2017 . live.
42. Web site: CS. Mark Millar Talks X-Men: Days of Future Past and Kick-Ass 3. ComingSoon.net. 5 November 2017. 1 February 2013. 4 February 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130204000351/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=99760. dead.
43. Sentinels: For a Secure Future. X-Men: Days of Future Past Blu-ray. 2014. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
44. Web site: Future threat – X-Men: Days of Future Past. Fxguide. Ian. Failes. May 27, 2014. October 16, 2014.
45. Sentinels: For a Secure Future. X-Men: Days of Future Past Blu-ray. 2014. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Featurette.
46. JoeMooreDesign. Joe Moore. 358357245752385536. 19 July 2013. Sentinels in #LEGO #Marvel Super Heroes! @arthur_parsons just said so! ^_^. 5 November 2017.
47. https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/23/18637577/marvel-ultimate-alliance-3-xmen-trailer-nintendo-switch no info
48. Web site: X-Men get some love in the new Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 trailer. Polygon. 2019-05-23.